A Medical Device Daily

Medtronic (Minneapolis) reported this week that it has bought substantially all glucose monitoring assets from PreciSense (Horsholm, Denmark), a development company focused on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"This strategic acquisition is an effort to expand Medtronic's already robust continuous glucose monitoring pipeline, and to develop a new CGM platform to aid development of our 'closed-loop' system," said Chris O'Connell, president of Medtronic's Diabetes business unit and a senior vice president at Medtronic. "This potentially disruptive technology could significantly broaden the use of CGM, and help improve diabetes care for more patients."

The announcement was made during a webcast presentation delivered by O'Connell on the state of Medtronic's Diabetes business unit and its strategic plan. O'Connell also discussed the significant increase in R&D spending in the Diabetes business, and he gave an update on the business unit's next generation insulin pumps, Personal CGM and Professional CGM, diabetes management software, and closed-loop product platforms.

According to the company, CGM is one of the most significant advances in diabetes management technology because it shows people their changing glucose levels in real-time. Medtronic said it has the only diabetes management system that integrates the power of CGM with insulin pump therapy, the MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. This device is designed to allow diabetes patients to better deliver insulin and monitor their glucose levels. With trend graphs, directional arrows and alarms, the device can also alert patients to dangerous high and low glucose values and allow them to take preemptive action to better manage their diabetes, Medtronic said.

A closed-loop system, sometimes referred to as an "artificial pancreas," mimics the insulin delivery of a normal pancreas using technology that automatically responds to and treats glucose fluctuations in patients with diabetes, Medtronic noted. Using advanced mathematical algorithms, Medtronic's closed-loop system is being designed to continuously monitor glucose levels and automatically adjust insulin delivery in patients.

In other dealmaking activity:

• CenterSpan Communications (Sacramento, California) reported an agreement to purchase a license, and other intellectual properties, relating to a new drug delivery system from Hamilton PNG (North Miami, Florida), in exchange for preferred shares amounting to 96% of the issued and outstanding equity of the company.

CenterSpan said it has been seeking new business opportunities since it concluded its prior business in 2003. The Hamilton PNG technology includes a new drug delivery system for dermatology uses and at least one new drug being submitted to the FDA and other countries in the future. The drug delivery system and new drugs are significant improvements over current systems and are the result of more than 15 years of development in the U.S. and Thailand, according to the company.

Following this purchase, expected to close on June 11, CenterSpan will issue 5 million preferred shares convertible to 96% of the outstanding common shares in return for this new drug delivery system and new drugs. The new officers and board of directors will include the existing directors of Hamilton PNG. CenterSpan is assuming no debt or liabilities in connection with this acquisition of assets. The value of the assets being purchased for stock is about $82 million as determined by prior arms length private sales.

CenterSpan said it intends to rename as Biophile Corporation and relocate to offices in California, Florida, with satellite offices in New Jersey, and Bangkok, Thailand.

• The Premier (San Diego) healthcare alliance has acquired Phase 2 Consulting (P2C; Salt Lake City), a provider of consulting services to hospitals and health systems.

The acquisition of P2C, a division of RehabCare Group (St. Louis), will complement Premier Consulting Solutions (PCS), as well as provide resources to help meet the growing demand for PCS' services, the company said. In 2008, PCS added more than 60 new customers, along with 225 new customer engagements.

• Community Health Systems (Franklin, Tennessee) reported that a subsidiary of the company has acquired from Akron General Medical Center (Akron, Ohio) all of its joint venture minority interest in Massillon Community Health System (Massillon, Ohio), which indirectly owns Affinity Medical Center (Massillon), a 268-bed acute-care hospital. The deal closed Monday.